Spins

GZA/The Genius

Pro Tools

Label: Babygrande

If you like: Wu-Tang Clan

Song to download: "Paper Plate"

Don't get it twisted -- Pro Tools, the title of GZA's new CD, is a nod to his microphone dexterity, not the digital-audio recording tool. GZA, the veteran MC of Wu-Tang Clan, slings "glorious slang" over stark beats that spotlight his frigid flows and continues to sharpen his shatterproof wordplay.

The whittled-down texture of the lead cut, "Pencil," exemplifies the verbal assault: "Direct order/ hit the border/ then slaughter/ horrific torture/ by prolific authors." Masta Killa, a reputable MC in his own right, follows GZA, but he sounds trite in comparison.

On "Paper Plate," a track that disses rapper 50 Cent, GZA fires point-blank: "One verse will shatter your spine and crush your spirit/ No matter what you still window-shop for lyrics."

Fellow Wu-Tang founder RZA's sparse production on the track makes it the album's best, with digital chimes and an electric xylophone slinking above a minimal drum-clap.

"O% Finance" continues GZA's love for allegory and metaphor, as he riffs off of a scenario in which cars prowl the streets of an urban jungle. He spits charged metaphors that keeps mental wheels "spinning like dark Bacardi." Choco Reynoso's Krautrock pulse provides perfect backdrop.

The struggle of the streets is a recurring theme. Pro Tools unfurls like a season of The Wire as GZA details scenarios that involve hidden track-marks, juveniles facing life in prison, ducked court dates and cribs sold for bail.

There's a reason GZA is considered by many to be the greatest MC in hip-hop -- he makes the complex seem easy.

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes

Label: Sub Pop

If you like: Grand Archives, Band of Horses, David Crosby

Song to download: "Rugged Wood"

Fleet Foxes, a quintet from Seattle, has, with the release of its debut album, Fleet Foxes, jumped to the forefront of the folk-rock renewal now blossoming in the former land of grunge.

This is an ambitious album that wears its formative foundation -- a harmony-laden, fringed-vest list that stretches from The Association and CSN&Y to Anglo-folk and sacred-song traditions -- with pride, but not at the expense of a sound that ultimately bears the band's own stamp.

The point of pride is the group's exquisite, pin-point harmony singing, effortless and evocative in its ability to convey a sense of pastoral calm and beauty to songs that swerve through myriad mental vistas, from environmental snapshots to musings on mortality. The songwriting avoids predictability, championing fragile melody over instrumental clutter.

The result is akin to a sustained cool breeze blowing through a body of panoramic songs that paint a front-porch folk sensibility with an earthy, friendly touch of psychedelia.

The Duhks

Fast Paced World

Label: Sugar Hill

If you like: Trampling through various musical pastures

Song to download: "Mighty Storm"

Two of the five members of The Duhks have been replaced in the last year-and-a-half, among them the lead singer. What has remained intact is the group's ability to push the boundaries of modern roots-folk. The band's new album, Fast Paced World, is another juicy mix of components from across the musical spectrum melded into a quirky but cohesive whole.

New vocalist Sarah Dugas often raises the bar for the band with her soulful flair. Her take on the traditional "Mighty Storm" is a boisterous, vibrant piece of power-preaching that leaps from an enthusiastic merger of gospel, country and clattering bits drawn from other musical wells.

"You Don't See It" is a more mainstream performance than expected from a band that so prizes its eclecticism, but departures are frequent on the fiddle-lined foot stomper "95 South" and the free-flowing "New Rigged Ship." The Duhks' dynamic has been fundamentally changed by its new lineup, but its creativity hasn't come close to settling down.

Irma Thomas

Simply Grand

Label: Rounder

If you like: Ann Peebles, Sharon Jones

Song to download: "I Think It's Going to Rain Today"

Simply Grand is a fit title for an Irma Thomas album on Thomas' merits alone. At age 67, Thomas, long known as the Soul Queen of New Orleans, is a national treasure who remains at the top of her game. If anything, her lush voice, with its earthy tones and full-note roundness, has grown more nuanced and emotionally resonant with time.

But Simply Grand also describes the album's acoustic setting, in which Thomas pairs off with a series of pianists who accompany her on a concert grand. Some are famous, such as Randy Newman and Norah Jones, who plays as Thomas turns Jones' "Thinking About You" into a wise lament. Others are New Orleans heroes, such as Ellis Marsalis, who supports Thomas on "This Bitter Earth," a stunning ballad,

The setting brings out Thomas' jazz side, especially on "Cold Rain," and her funky R&B roots are celebrated on the outstanding "Be You," performed with Dr. John and co-written by the late Doc Pomus.

The Gabe Dixon Band

The Gabe Dixon Band

Label: Fantasy

If you like: early Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds

Song to download: "And the World Turned"

The Gabe Dixon Band's musical approach is not new, nor does it pretend to be, something that gives the band's new album, The Gabe Dixon Band, much of its appeal.

The trio, led by Dixon, who sings, writes and plays keyboards, works within a bass, drums and keyboards format -- something used by the young Elton John and Ben Folds, among others. The Gabe Dixon Band puts the emphasis, not on the relative novelty of the approach, but on Dixon's savvy pop craft and singing. Sure, the mark of John and Billy Joel looms large on the ballads, but it's a reflection of influence, not imitation. The arrangements are so uncluttered, the playing so dynamic, that the trio's lack of conventional instrumentation never matters.

What does matter is the alluring strength of the songwriting -- Dan Wilson of Semisonic chips in on a few songs -- and Dixon's deft piano playing and emotionally evocative singing.

It's an album that leaves you feeling good -- with a song stuck in your head.

G. Love & Special Sauce

Superhero Brother

Label: Brushfire

If you like: That crazy little old thing called G. Love

Song to download: "Peace, Love and Happiness"

Fans are accustomed to reviewers desperately trying to pigeonhole G. Love's music. It's R&B. It's hip-hop. It's funk. It's folk-blues-roots from a white boy from Philly who can rhyme.

Whatever it is, Superhero Brother, Love's new album with his band Special Sauce, is smart music that plays with chords, rhythm, words and melody and makes you want to dance. All the familiar ingredients are in place -- rhythmic vocal lines that pop, sweet melodic phrases sandwiched between busy hip-hop rhymes and syncopated grooves that won't quit.

But Love incorporates a few new ingredients. On "Communication," he takes a few cues from Paul McCartney's "Jet," and the radio-friendly "Peace, Love and Happiness" recalls the Black Crowes or the Allman Brothers.

The added pop and rock flavor underscores that Superhero Brother is music from a man who is still having fun with his art, still discovering it and still growing into his own unique sound, whatever that might be.